It was popular in Europe, but how good is it?
| It was popular in Europe, but how good is it? |
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| The Thread's Must Read |
"How's the Pain" by Pascal Garnier
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I'm continuing my “Anywhere but Sweden” noir recommendations this week with a trip to France.
Pascal Garnier, who died in 2010, wrote his deliciously dark noir from his perch in a mountainous town in the mountains of Ardeche, in southeast France. The geography there is rich with verdant forests and small, insular villages. Like the Icelandic novels I recommended last week, you can feel the influence of the landscape on the sensibility of the writing.
Garnier’s novels feature hitmen, drifters and people who leave familiar environments for new surroundings, often sparking conflict.
In “How’s the Pain," an aging hitman is ready to call it quits when he hires a young driver for one last job. Philosophical, humorous and tightly-told, the novel is unpredictable and surprisingly compassionate.
Garnier’s daughter, Eve, says her late father was charismatic — the kind of guy at a party who would be surrounded by people, eager to impress. “People were drawn to him, “ she said. “He got people to talk about themselves… But he didn’t tell them about himself.”
The power of that quiet observation makes this noir memorable and original.
— Kerri Miller |
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| | | A man looks back on those he lost | | "When All Is Said" a novel by Anne Griffin |
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Bookseller Vicki Burger recommends a novel that's "just lovely, about how we look back on our lives ... and the people who have been important to us either for good or bad."
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